The museum's work has been recognised and celebrated through a range of award wins, shortlists, and nominations.
Finalist: Best Exhibition, Nothing About Us Without Us (16 November 2022 – 16 October 2023)
Manchester Culture Awards 2023
Celebrating and profiling the fantastic arts, cultural and creative activity in the city, and the people, groups, and organisations who contribute to Manchester’s cultural landscape and make a positive difference to people’s lives.
Shortlisted: Most-loved Arts/Cultural Venue
I Love MCR Awards 2023
Championing people and celebrating civic pride with a contemporary show and ceremony evoking I Love MCR’s brand values.
Highly commended: Community Engagement Programme of the Year for Nothing About Us Without Us, a year long programme of activity including the headline exhibition of the same name (16 November 2022 – 16 October 2023)
Museums + Heritage Awards 2023
Rewarding the very best in museums and heritage across the globe.
Certificate of Appreciation: Contribution to Volunteer Placement Project
Manchester City of Sanctuary
Awarded in recognition of PHM’s contribution and dedication to supporting and welcoming Sanctuary Seekers in Manchester.
Winner: Museum of Sanctuary Award
City of Sanctuary, UK
Recognising the inclusive and welcoming approach taken by PHM towards people seeking asylum and refugees.
Shortlisted: Best Museums Change Lives Project, for Migration: a human story
Museums Change Lives Awards 2022
Recognising and celebrating outstanding practice by UK museums delivering social impact, promoting the best examples of work by museums and individuals that support communities and engage with contemporary issues.
Shortlisted: Museum of the Year 2022
Art Fund Museum of the Year 2022
The world’s largest museum prize, celebrating the UK’s museums and galleries, rewarding their resilience, creativity and imagination.
Joint winner: Activist Museum Award 2021-2022
Activist Museum Awards 2021-2022
Awarded by the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG), part of the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies, the award celebrates and fosters activist thinking and practice in the UK museum community.
Shortlisted: Best Exhibition for Disrupt? Peterloo and Protest exhibition (23 March 2019 – 23 February 2020)
Shortlisted: Promotion of Culture and Education for Trapped in the Museum
Manchester Culture Awards 2021
Recognising individuals, events, and organisations big and small, that together help make Manchester the vibrant and exciting place for culture and the arts that it is.
Shortlisted: Children in Museums Award for PHM’s Family Friendly and Learning Programmes
Children in Museums Award
A joint venture between Hands On! and the European Museum Academy, the award recognises excellence, creativity and innovation in exhibitions and programmes designed for children up to the age of 14 years.
Winner: Green Award for People’s History Museum and Open Kitchen’s partnership on Open Kitchen Cafe & Bar at PHM
Cultural Enterprises Awards 2021
Part of the Association for Cultural Enterprises, the awards celebrate creativity and resilience in the cultural sector.
Shortlisted: COVID Supplier of the Year, for PHM shop supplier Radical Tea Towel
Museums + Heritage Awards 2021
Rewarding the very best in museums and heritage across the globe.
Highly commended: Digital Campaign or Campaigner of the Year, for Vital Voters, a project engaging young people with the power of democracy
Your UK Parliament Awards 2021
Celebrating people across the UK who have taken action on the issues they care about.
Joint winner: Apprentice Award for Sipho Mangoye, PHM Apprentice (Digital Marketing & Fundraising)
MPA Inspiration Awards 2020
Recognising amazing talent across the city of Manchester to inspire future innovation and creativity.
Winner: Toymark Good Practice Award, for the PHM shop
Let Toys Be Toys
The Let Toys Be Toys Toymark recognises retailers that are doing a great job of offering toys to girls and boys alike.
Shortlisted: Cross-Sector Digital Collaboration of the Year, for AIM Biffa Award History Makers Programme, developed in collaboration with the Creative AR & VR Hub at Manchester Metropolitan University to raise the profile of two important History Makers; Annie Besant and Jayaben Desai
Digital Leaders 100 Awards
The DL100 list is created by public vote and celebrates the teams and individuals who are working hard behind the scenes to secure the UK’s digital transformation.
Finalist: Best Exhibition, Represent! Voices 100 Years On (2 June 2018 – 3 February 2019)
Manchester Culture Awards 2019
Celebrating people, groups and organisations who made a creative buzz in Manchester during April 2018 to March 2019.
Winner: Toymark Good Practice Award, for the PHM shop
Let Toys Be Toys
The Let Toys Be Toys Toymark recognises retailers that are doing a great job of offering toys to girls and boys alike.
Winner: Best Cultural Venue
The Manchester Awards 2019
Celebrating everything that is great about the Manchester, designed to reward those individuals, businesses and organisations that have proved themselves to be indispensable to the city’s success.
Commended by the judges: Best Contribution to a Heritage Project by Young People, People’s History Museum and Falinge Park High School for their project exploring ideas of representation
Historic England Angel Awards 2018
Celebrating the efforts of people taking action to champion their local heritage.
Winner: Best Exhibition, Never Going Underground: The Fight for LGBT+ Rights (25 February – 3 September 2017)
Special Commendation: Best Performance, with Contact Young Company, She Bangs The Drums
Manchester Culture Awards 2018
Celebrating people, groups and organisations who made culture buzz in Manchester during April 2017 to March 2018.
Winner: Heritage, Museum, Library and Education Partnership Award, PHM in partnership with Manchester Secondary Pupil Referral Unit, for the artist-led project Who Represents Me; a bold, colourful and powerful piece of artwork featuring as part of the exhibition Represent! Voices 100 Years On (2 June 2018 – 3 February 2019)
The North West Cultural Education Awards 2018
Shining a light on those individuals, schools and organisations that have gone above and beyond in their work to bring the benefits of great arts and culture to the region’s children and young people – celebrating and championing best practice and innovation in the sector.
Winner: National Collaboration of the Year, for exhibitions Represent! Voices 100 Years On (2 June 2018 – 3 February 2019) and Never Going Underground: The Fight for LGBT+ Rights (25 February – 3 September 2017)
National Democracy Week Awards 2018
First held in the 100th year of the first women gaining the right to vote, the awards highlight the work of national leaders in democratic engagement.
Runner up: Best for Free Activities
2018 Hoop Awards
Over 40,000 votes were cast in the 2018 Hoop Awards to find the UK’s favourite kids’ activities and celebrate the people and organisations that go above and beyond to entertain, educate and inspire children.
Shortlisted: Temporary or Touring Exhibition, for Never Going Underground: The Fight for LGBT+ Rights (25 February – 3 September 2017)
Museums + Heritage Awards for Excellence 2018
Celebrating best practice within the world of museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions, attracting hundreds of entries which compete to win one of several prestigious awards.
Winner: Toymark Good Practice Award, for the PHM shop
Let Toys Be Toys
The Let Toys Be Toys Toymark recognises retailers that are doing a great job of offering toys to girls and boys alike.
Winner: Family Friendly Museum Award
Kids in Museums
Britain’s only museum award where families pick the winner. Over 700 nominations from families and museums were whittled down to a shortlist of ten, which were then road-tested by family judges against the eight points in the Kids in Museums Mini Manifesto.
Winner: Volunteers in Museum Learning, for the Community Curators of Never Going Underground: The Fight for LGBT+ Rights, a year long programme of activity including the headline exhibition of the same name (25 February – 3 September 2017)
Marsh Christian Trust Awards 2017
This award is run in partnership with the British Museum and recognises the best and most innovative ways in which volunteers work within local and national museums and galleries to engage the public with collections and exhibitions.
Shortlisted: Museum of the Year
Shortlisted: Exhibition of the Year, for Ideas Worth Fighting For (17 – 23 October 2016)
Northern Soul Awards 2017
Celebrating and rewarding cultural and artistic excellence in the north of England.
Winner: Volunteer Team of the Year for the Community Curators of Never Going Underground: The Fight for LGBT+ Rights, a year long programme of activity including the headline exhibition of the same name (25 February – 3 September 2017)
Museums + Heritage Awards for Excellence 2017
Celebrating best practice within the world of museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions, attracting hundreds of entries which compete to win one of several prestigious awards.
Highly commended: Fundraisers of the Year for Sponsor a Radical Hero campaign
Museums + Heritage Awards for Excellence 2016
Celebrating best practice within the world of museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions, attracting hundreds of entries which compete to win one of several prestigious awards.
Award: Quality Food & Drink Accolade for The Left Bank cafe bar
VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme
Awarded in recognition of the quality visitor experiences on offer, the accolades recognise those attractions going the extra mile to create an enjoyable and memorable visitor experience.
Winner: Museums + Heritage Awards 2015, Guardian Culture Pros Pick
Museums + Heritage Awards for Excellence 2015
Celebrating best practice within the world of museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions, attracting hundreds of entries which compete to win one of several prestigious awards. Guardian Culture Pros Pick is an award for the UK’s most inspiring museum or heritage visitor attraction of the year, voted for by the public.
Commendation: Exhibition Design, for A Land Fit For Heroes (25 May 2014 – 1 February 2015) by Modern Designers
The Drum Design Awards 2015
Recognising great design being produced by agencies across the whole of the UK, giving the opportunity for great craft, design and execution to be rewarded. The awards are open to all design consultancies, advertising agencies, digital agencies, creative agencies, media owners, in house teams, freelancers or clients who work within the design discipline.
Shortlisted: Large Visitor Attraction of the Year
Manchester Tourism Awards 2013
Celebrating tourism excellence across Greater Manchester.
Silver Award: Environmental Business Pledge
Environmental Business Pledge
Organised by Manchester City Council in partnership with Groundwork, the pledge is a free advice and award scheme designed to help organisations in Manchester improve their environmental performance and generate cost savings.
Shortlisted: Best not-for-profit website or campaign for ‘Ideas worth scanning’ with Vivid
Northern Marketing Awards 2013
Organised by Prolific North. Leading brands and organisations along with marketing, creative and digital agencies from across the north submit entries for 20 award categories.
Shortlisted: Museums + Heritage Readers’ Award
Museums + Heritage Awards for Excellence 2012
Celebrating best practice within the world of museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions, attracting hundreds of entries which compete to win one of several prestigious awards.
Special Commendation: European Museum of the Year 2012
European Museum Forum
Recognising excellence in the European museum scene and encouraging innovative processes. The museum was one of only four museums in Europe to receive the accolade, reserved for the most innovative and enterprising museums in Europe.
Bronze Award: Environmental Business Pledge
Environmental Business Pledge
Organised by Manchester City Council in partnership with Groundwork, the pledge is a free advice and award scheme designed to help organisations in Manchester improve their environmental performance and generate cost savings.
Longlisted: Museum of the Year 2011
Art Fund Prize 2011
Rewarding excellence and innovation in museums and galleries across the UK for a project completed or undertaken in 2010. The museum was one of only ten museums across the country that was successful in reaching the longlist.
Award: People’s History Museum by Austin-Smith: Lord
Civic Trust Awards 2011
Established in 1959 to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment.
Highly commended: Best marketing campaign category for the re-branding of People’s History Museum
Shortlisted: Best permanent exhibition category for the museum’s new galleries
Museums + Heritage Awards for Excellence 2011
Celebrating best practice within the world of museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions, attracting hundreds of entries which compete to win one of several prestigious awards.
Shortlisted: Design & Innovation category
Shortlisted: Tourism & Leisure category
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards North West
The prestigious property-based contest celebrates inspirational initiatives in the land, property, and construction sectors from all over the North West.
Winner: Building structures medium category by Curtins Consulting for People’s History Museum
Engineering Excellence Awards, organised by the UK’s Association of Consultancy & Engineering
Recognising the very best that consultancy and engineering has to offer.
Shortlisted: Large Visitor Attraction of the Year
Manchester Tourism Awards 2011
Celebrating tourism excellence across Greater Manchester.
Nominated: Best coffee shop or casual dining venue category for The Left Bank cafe bar
Manchester Food & Drink Festival Awards 2010
A benchmark for excellence in the hospitality industries throughout Greater Manchester.
Winner: Best website, not for profit/charity sector category for phm.org.uk
Drum Awards for the Digital Industries (DADIs)
Recognising and rewarding digital excellence, these awards are open to any business, including agencies and clients, who are producing effective digital strategies.
Winner: Building of the Year Award
The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
Awarded in recognition of key construction projects in Greater Manchester.
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